The last weekend has felt like a global celebration of the house of Alexander McQueen, past and future.
The last weekend has felt like a global celebration of the house of Alexander McQueen, past and future. On Friday we swooned at the sight of our future queen wearing Sarah Burton's dream of a dress at the royal wedding, (get all the details in Grazia's special tribute issue - "Arise McQueen Kate!"- on sale now!) and last night, the annual Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrated the work of the late Alexander "Lee" McQueen himself.
Unlike the all-encompassing themes of previous years ("Model as Muse"
"Superheroes" etc), in theory, the dress code for this year's gala is a
no-brainer, right? Wrong. Coco Rocha hit the nail on the head
when she pointed out that all of the the best Alexander McQueen
dresses...are now on display in the museum's “Alexander McQueen: Savage
Beauty” exhibition. So this left the A-list scrabbling around for the
gowns by the late designer, with many having to resort to wearing
dresses by other design houses.
Guest of honour, McQueen creative director Sarah Burton wore her
own design, a loose-fitting, ethereal white organza dress that was a far
departure from her predecessor Lee's sharp sexy tailoring, perhaps this
was a nod to the future direction of the fashion house?
Some celebrities decided to coordinate their outfits with their designer dates for the night, rather than the gala's theme. Kristen Stewart was with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, who made her dress, a red column with striking black patterns. 
Blake Lively was escorted by M. Karl Lagerfeld, who dressed his new muse in a sari-style draped silver dress from the Chanel A/W 2009 haute couture collection.
Less easy to explain was host Anna Wintour's choice of Chanel
for the McQueen-themed event. Her striped sequinned maxi dress, a haute
couture creation from Chanel's S/S 11 collection, (to which the editrix
had long sleeves added), was a playfully chic look for the red carpet -
even if it paid no tribute to the late designer whatsoever. Disgrace?
Discuss.
Of course, for the die-hard devotees of Lee McQueen, there was only one label to wear. Sarah Jessica Parker,
who has continued to show her support for the late designer, wearing
many of his designs over the past 12 months since his death, wore an
archive look which was the finale outfit from the A/W 2005 collection - a
silver crystal beaded column dress with a high neck and 3/4 length
sleeves. Of course, getting hold of original McQueen was easier for some
than others.
Karen Elson wore the silver gown she had modelled for Lee McQueen
in his S/S '04 catwalk show (which makes us wonder: did he gift her the
dress afterwards? If so, lucky girl).
Given that there wasn't enough McQueen by Lee McQueen to go around,
savvy fashionistas opted for Sarah Burton's new designs for the house
instead. Estee Lauder model Hilary Rhoda had nabbed a knockout
McQueen look for the night - a white silk puff-shouldered tuxedo coat
dress from Burton's Spring 2011 collection, accessorised with lace-up
ankle boots and a Britannia clutch bag from the same collection. 
Even the event's honorary co-chair, actress Salma Hayek (whose husband Francois Henri-Pinault,
chairman of the PPR luxury conglomerate, which owns McQueen) wore a
peach organza couture gown by Alexander McQueen, from Burton's
pre-S/S'11 collection. 
Naomi Campbell, a close friend of McQueen's, chose a white tulle
crystal embroidered McQueen couture gown, created especially for her by
Burton (officially now the busiest woman in fashion).
Daphne Guinness also showed her support for Lee McQueen's
successor. The model/muse/designer, who earlier in the night had got
ready for the gala in the windows of Barney's department store,
surrounded by curious fans and onlookers, wore a lilac feathered dress,
the finale look from S/S'11 and Bridle booties from A/W '11.
Anna Della Russo wore a black duchesse satin tailcoat, white
shirt, gold fern embroidered trousers and gold snakeskin boots from
current-season McQueen. 
Coco Rocha also solved her dress-hunt nightmare by wearing a
Burton designed navy dress with feather belt, from the A/W'11
pre-collection, while fellow model Raquel Zimmermann wore a black feather bustier gown from A/W '11.
Others chose dresses in the style of Alexander McQueen, created by rival
designers (let's try and imagine how that conversation went). Beyonce's
mermaid-style black velvet dress with corsetry detailing, heavy gold
embroidery and a sharply tailored high neck, was a distinctive nod to
McQueen's last ever collection... even if it was actually created by Emilio Pucci designer Peter Dundas.
Even more confusingly, were the guests who wore Lee McQueen's designs,
but really didn't look like they were. Despite currently fronting Balenciaga's Spring 2011 ad campaign, Gisele Bunchen's look will always be more hottie than edgy. Her scarlet strapless fishtail silk gown may have been modelled by Jessica Stam in McQueen's Hitchcock heroine themed A/W' 2005 show with a redhead ghost-of-Marilyn-Monroe
style wig and a beaded cardigan looking sharply sexy but sinister, but
on Gisele, all hair and tan and teeth, the look was simply va-va-voom.
The model paid tribute to McQueen saying 'I was really just impressed
with his genius, his beautiful insanity. He really saw women in such a
different way.'
Read more: http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/fashion/best-dressed-met-ball-2011-article-u58h.html
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